Flag burnings not fatal to ties: Alatas<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas is
\nconfident that the burnings of the Indonesian flag in Australia
\nand a retaliatory incident here last week will not deal a fatal
\nblow to relations between the two countries.<\/p>\n
After meeting with President Soeharto yesterday, Alatas said
\nthat the general state of relations with Australia would
\neventually return to normal.<\/p>\n
\"There is an effect. However it won't be a fatal one because
\nrelations are quite strong,\" Alatas said.<\/p>\n
While Indonesia celebrated its independence day last week,
\ndemonstrators in several Australian cities burned the Indonesian
\nflag to protest Indonesia's integration of the former Portuguese
\ncolony of East Timor.<\/p>\n
Youth organizations here reacted angrily to the incident and
\nretaliated by burning two Australian flags in front of the
\nembassy last week.<\/p>\n
\"(Relations are) quite deep to withstand tremors and shocks
\nfrom incidents like this,\" he said, adding that Indonesia and
\nAustralia have had strong relations over the past few years.<\/p>\n
The recent flag burning incident, however, represents another
\nsetback since Jakarta last month withdrew its nomination of
\nretired Lt. Gen. H.B.L. Mantiri as ambassador to Canberra.<\/p>\n
Alatas refused to say if Indonesia had selected a new
\ncandidate.<\/p>\n
Bosnia<\/p>\n
Separately yesterday the chief executive assistant to the
\nchairman of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), Nana Sutresna, said
\nthat the major factions fighting in the former Yugoslavia had
\nagreed to meet here for possible peace talks.<\/p>\n
He said Bosnia-Herzegovina President Alija Izetbegovic,
\nCroatian President F. Tudjman of Croatia and Serbian President
\nSlobodan Milosevic had expressed their agreement without setting
\na tentative date.<\/p>\n
\"The three heads of state have agreed in principal to attend a
\nmeeting in Indonesia to follow up on President Soeharto's
\nproposal,\" Nana said.<\/p>\n
During a visit to Zagreb and Sarajevo earlier this year,
\nSoeharto proposed a comprehensive peace initiative to the warring
\nfactions to sit down and try to settle the civil war there.<\/p>\n
The President also said that if necessary, Indonesia would be
\nwilling to facilitate the talks.<\/p>\n
According to Nana the location of Indonesia as the venue was
\nproposed by the leaders themselves. Nana, as President Soeharto's
\nspecial envoy to the former Yugoslav republic, has made several
\ntrips in the past few months.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile AFP reported from Belgrade yesterday that Serbian,
\nCroatian and Bosnian officials claim to have no knowledge of an
\nIndonesian plan for a summit on the former Yugoslavia, while the
\nBosnian Serbs said such a meeting was unlikely.<\/p>\n
Izetbegovic's spokesman Kemal Muftic said in Sarajevo that he
\nlearned of the plans from calls from journalists. \"In other
\nwords, it's not our idea,\" he told AFP. \"We don't know about it.\"<\/p>\n
Aleksa Buha, the \"foreign minister\" of the self-declared
\nBosnian Serb Republic, said he had not been informed of the
\nIndonesia meeting.<\/p>\n
\"I don't believe this report which seems unlikely given the
\ngeographical distance for holding such a meeting,\" he told AFP.<\/p>\n
The Indonesian foreign ministry's director of information,
\nIrawan Abidin, told The Jakarta Post yesterday that Indonesia's
\ninitiative was presented at the highest level and thus \"may not
\nhave trickled down yet.\" (mds)<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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